I have so far decided not to combine bible time with the boys yet. Ty can’t pay attention to Tanner’s reading so I would rather isolate this and have one on one time with Ty. I LOVE LOVE See With Me Bible and think it will be fun to talk through the pictures with Ty. Even though he can read, I think he will get more out of the experience this way.

Verses

Same as Tanner

Math

Saxxon

Reading

I was going to start him on How To Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons but he can already read the last lesson in the book so that would be a pointless exercise. Instead, I will let him choose his own book and he will need to read to me for 15 to 20 minutes per day.

Handwriting

I am going to start him on the Pre-K handwriting and move into Kindergarten if we can. Will be using Handwriting Without Tears. His fine motor skills are VERY delayed so I am not sure that letter writing will be possible in K-garten. We’ll see.

Phonics

Using Explode the Code online. Decided to use an online phonics program to avoid the handwriting issue.

Science

Will get science with Tanner on Wed nights.

No History, Grammar, or Writing exercises in K-Garten for Ty. Will wait for first grade for that.

We used Day to Day Begin to Read Bible. Tanner would read daily to Ty and I. Towards the end of the year, this was really too easy for him but I decided not to switch midyear.

Verses

Ty and Tanner continued to introduce a new verse every week or two.

Reading

Tanner read the vast majority of the Mary Pope Oswald Magic Treehouse books this year as well as started on the Beast Quest series. Was reading independantly for 30 minutes a day quite early in the year.

Spelling

I used the second grade word list off the Everday Spelling website. http://www.everydayspelling.com/spellinglist/

Phonics

We finished through book six of Explode the Code.

Math

Started year on Singapore but quit after the first of the year because it wasn’t doing a good enough job getting the fundamentals down. In January I started using the storycards from www.memoryjoggers.com. These worked FANTASTICALLY for memorizing times tables. I also used www.rockinmath.com for daily practice in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. By the end of second grade he was adding in the thousands with carrying and subtracting in the thousands with borrowing.

Handwriting

Didn’t focus on that as a specific subject and I regret that.

Writing

We did daily dictation from whatever he was reading and I introduced “Gotchas” where I would write a grammatically incorrect sentence and he would correct it.

History

We used Mystery of History but were pretty relaxed about it.

Science

We used Considering God’s Creation but were VERY relaxed about it in the second grade.

My second year homeschooling had its challenges but I would rate it a success overall. Following is a summary of what we accomplished.

Bible - Read from a children’s bible daily and Tanner copied a sentence or two in a notebook. This was good handwriting practice.

Verses - Tanner worked on a verse for 2 weeks. This seemed a good time frame for him to get it down really well as well as repeat all the verses that he learned previously.

Catechism - We worked on two catechism bullets every week. This worked out well but towards the end of the year they were getting harder. May want to simplify the answers.

Pledge of Allegiance - Tanner recited weekly

Daily Misc - Learned address, phone number, how to use phone, 911 instructions, days of week, months of the year.

Phonics - Complete Explode the Code books 1, 2 and 3.

Math - Completed First Grade Singapore Math books - there were two. Also learned how to count by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s, how to tell time, and how to count money (basic).

Reading - We went to the library every month and Tanner picked out his own books. At the beginning of the year, it would take us about a week to complete a book like Cat in the Hat and I would read every other page. By the last quarter of the year Tanner would read for 25 minutes per day and he would read the whole book. He can now read Cat in the Hat in about 15 to 20 minutes with very little assistance. 25 minutes per day seemed to work well.

Grammer - We used a journal and would write a sentence or two daily. Tanner learned to capitalize names and the first letter of the word at the beginning of a sentence. He also learned about periods and question marks. He had trouble with creativity so we found that using a mind map to conceive the story idea helped.

Spelling - I used the Dolche noun and 300 word common list. Tanner would get about 13 words per week and would have a spelling test weekly. This really helped his grammer skills as he grew confidence in his spelling skills. He rarely missed more than two words on his weekly tests.

Points - Tanner earned points daily for his work. 1 point for it being done well, 1 point for it being done timely, 1 point for no whining. He could earn up to 3 points per page. 75 points earned him an afternoon of Xbox. This usually worked out to about once a week.

What did not work OR what I would change…

Bible - Worked well. Wouldn’t change it.

Verses and Catechism - Okay other then simplification

Phonics - Would repeat this.

Math - Would repeat books but I am kicking myself for not making him learn his math facts early enough. Next time around, math facts need to be a priority early on. Maybe I would schedule time frames for certain math facts seperately (ie - week 1 and 2 work on 1’s). He would need to recite them with flashcard as visual, without flashcard, AND written. I found that he is memorizing the way the flash card looks and remembers the answer but then has trouble applying it to his lesson later. Also, the challenge book was too hard. Wouldn’t do that in first grade again.

Reading - Worked well. I think I would start the 25 minutes of reading right from the start next year though I would still help more the first half of the year.

Spelling - I am kicking myself that I didn’t start this at the beginning of the year. Next time I need to plan ahead for spelling. I think using these lists are great though for first grade.

Grammer - Need to write more stories in the last half of the year.

Vocabulary - I used Wordly Wise but I didn’t end up thinking it was a good use of time for the first grade. I would rather wait until 4rth to start this. 1st through 3rd takes so much time already and the children are super co-dependent. Better to concentrate on reading, writing, and math in these grades I think.

History - Because we are doing HOW’s History order and 1st Grade was Ancient History - we used Bible for our ancient history time. Wasn’t enough time to work in history lessons and the HOW units didn’t really work for me for first grade though I do intend to use it for fifth grade when we repeat the four year cycle. We did talk about culture and people groups and pyramids and cuniform though and made a sugar pyramid and clay tablets.

Science - Did very little science due to time. Will need to think about this one next time round. We did do some experiments though and Tanner enjoyed that.

I am trying to gather resources for teaching math facts. Singapore math includes some level of multiplication by the end of the 1st grade year and that has me feeling a little stressed because right now I am just trying to get Tanner to do single digit addition and subtraction. When are they supposed to be able to add single digits without using manipulatives? Some days we use fingers, some days we count the objects (because most of Tanner’s math still has object drawings for every equation), some days we use unifix cubes, and recently we started using “yardstick” counting. Tanner likes that and I think it makes sense to him.

I found a website called www.memoryjoggers.com that had some really cool flash cards. The addition and subtraction cards include rhymes that help kids remember these math facts. The multiplication cards are really cool and I intend to purchase them. Each number has an animal representative drawn around it. Example, the 9’s name is Nina (pronounced NINE-Ah) and it has a porcupine drawn around her. The 8 was another animal (I forget which). On the card 8 X 9 you see the two animals and there is a little associated story. Something about one wanting to “go to the zoo”. As 8 times 9 is 72, and that rhymes with “go to the zoo”, it helps both visual and auditory learners with their multiplication tables. Looks interesting and I want to start that once Tanner gets a better understanding of addition and subtraction.

In the meantime, I bought these flashcards that have an electronic pen that works with them. They can “pick” the answer with the pen and the pen tells them if they are correct or not. This seems to be working well for Tanner.

Doubles

My friend Tawnya though suggested Tanner doesn’t need to memorize addition facts. She suggested teaching him doubles only. Example: 1+1=2 2+2 = 4 3+3 = 6. She said that it’s easy for kids to count up or down in small increments so if they learn their doubles, then they only need to count up or down by a couple of numbers.

Example: 7 + 6 = 13 - There is a double here 6+6. Child learned 6+6 is 12. Now just add 1 to 12 = 13. That is easier than counting up 6. Makes sense. I think it may take a bit for the child to “see” the double in the other number but the concept makes sense.

Hungry Bugs

Another math concept that Tawnya told me about today. It’s basically how to get children to count using base 10. Example: 9 is a hungry bug and he always eats 1. 8 is even hungrier and she eats 2. If you are adding 9 + 5 = 9 will eat one digit of 5 and become 10. Now you just add 10 plus 4 (which is easier to remember than counting 5 up from 9). If you are adding 8 + 4, 8 eats 2 of 4 and becomes 10. Then you add 10 to 2 to get 12. For some kids this may be a harder concept but for my brain, it is much easier to convert to 10’s and add.

Trying to keep track of these tricks as I learn them so I can use whatever is best for Tanner and Ty’s individual learning styles.

Been thinking of ideas for more creative prayer time. The boys get in a “rut” with who and what they pray for. I think I will make notecards with pictures of people/places/things to pray for or be thankful for. I will have them draw three notecards out of the box every morning to give them more ideas of what we need to pray for. I will also track our prayer requests in my notebook and update so that we can remember to praise God for answered prayer.

Tanner and Ty will each have about 10 minutes per day of “CD Time”. This will help them with their memorization tasks. I may also let Ty listen to books or childrens music on tape during blanket time.

Each CD will only be 10 minutes maximum so I will need to have several and progress through them as they learn the material. Plans for this years CD Time goals:

Tanner:

Verses
Catechism
Days of Week
Months of Year
Vowels and Phonic Rules
Tanner’s Birthdate
Address
Phone Number
Family Rules
1 through 10 addition Drill
A sentence about a character Quality
Fun Bible Facts (Who built the ark? Who was in the lion’s den?….)
End CD with Big House - the boys favorite Audio Adrenaline song to indicate CD over

Ty:

Counting 1 - 20
Reminding him of ABC’s and Sounds
Verses
Catechism
Family Rules
Character Quality
Fun Bible Facts
End CD with Big House to indicate CD over

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